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Seeking votes in eSwatini, where the king’s rule is absolute
HHUKWINI, Swaziland, Sept 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – On a patch of grass beside a
mountain track, eSwatini parliamentary candidate Alec Lushaba makes one final
push for votes — addressing an audience of five women and four children.
Electioneering is a low-key affair in the country formerly known as
Swaziland, which goes to the polls Friday in a ballot that has thrown light
on a unique, and much criticised, version of democracy.
Lushaba is dressed in a traditional robe which leaves his shoulders and
legs bare, and which is emblazoned with birthday wishes to King Mswati III,
the absolute monarch who rules over the tiny African kingdom.
Lushaba dismissed criticism that the vote is undemocratic because of the
king’s unlimited powers — and a law that bars political parties from taking
part in elections.
“No, this election is the best example of direct representation,” Lushaba,
46, told AFP.
“There are no parties to get between the people and their
representatives,” said Lushaba, who is running for the first time as a
candidate. “It is rooted in local communities, who choose who they want to
represent them.”
Parliamentary candidates stand as individuals and are selected by small
“chiefdom” districts in a first round of voting, then compete in the main
election to win in one of 59 constituency races.
“People know their members of parliament and judge them on their
performance,” Lushaba said on Wednesday, the last day of campaigning.
– A loyal parliament –
“The country has problems, but this process means we have collective
decision-making. The majority view wins — not the majority party,” he said.
Among the daunting issues confronting eSwatini is that 63 percent of the
population live below the poverty line, as well as having the world’s highest
adult HIV prevalence rate at 27.2 percent.
MORE/MR/ 1450 hrs
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The lower house to be elected on Friday — plus 10 lawmakers chosen by the
king — is expected again to be studiously loyal to the monarch and is
constitutionally unable to pass any law he disagrees with.
But not all of the country’s 1.3 million citizens support the election
system, which is often criticised as undemocratic by rights activists and
donor nations.
“The election is a waste of money and time,” Zakhele Ngwenya, 24, told AFP
outside a remote shop as cattle roamed on steep slopes tended by subsistence
farmers.
“We are all jobless, the roads are rough dirt, and transport is bad. What
has voting done to help?”
But Ngwenya still plans to vote on Friday, saying: “They tell us that
maybe we will never get a job if they know that we didn’t vote.”
Two hours’ drive away, candidate Micheal Musuku also held his last meeting
of the campaign — talking to 30 voters sitting on the floor of a community
hall on a windy hilltop.
Dressed in a smart suit and red tie with matching pocket handkerchief,
Musuku vowed to use the entrepreneurial skills developed running his
restaurant business to help voters.
Musuku failed to win a seat in the last election in 2013, but hopes to win
the Mkhiweni constituency, in the central region, against four other
candidates.
“The key local issue here is lack of water,” he said. “I want to help them
build dams.
“In parliament, we can advise the king, he thinks about these matters and
can speak to people who are experts.”
– Pride, and criticism –
After listening to Musuku, voter Esther Mhlanga, 66, did not reveal
whether he had won her support, but said she was proud of eSwatini’s election
system.
“It comes from our hearts,” she said. “We choose without anyone telling
us.”
Outward signs of campaigning have been scarce, with just a few posters of
candidates and an occasional vehicle with loudspeakers driving through the
streets.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc and African Union
have deployed election observers, but the EU and Commonwealth have not, after
issuing critical reports following the last election.
The EU said that “the main principles for a democratic state are not in
place” in eSwatini, a landlocked country surrounded by South Africa and
Mozambique. Tensions within the country have been seen this week with riot
police using water canon and tear gas to break up protests organised by trade
unions over low public sector wages.
After Friday’s national assembly election, the king will select the prime
minister and cabinet.
The upper house is formed by 20 members appointed by the king and 10
elected by the assembly.
Often accused of extravagance and waste, Mswati III famously chooses a new
wife each year at the colourful Reed Dance, when thousands of bare-breasted
virgins dance for him.
He exercised his absolute authority this year by changing the country’s
official name from Swaziland to eSwatini (“Land of the Swazis”).
The new name has been gradually taken up at home and internationally.
With about 540,000 registered voters, early results are expected Saturday.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1450 hrs